Langston gives Yamaha transatlantic success
Grant Langston
Grant Langston won his third
consecutive meeting of the season
when he crossed the finish line at Glen Helen for the twelfth
and last round of the 2007 AMA Motocross Championship and
clinched his first title in the premier class. The 25 year old
South African’s results ensured that Yamaha toasted yet another
excellent crown with YZ machinery after also winning the MX2 and
MX3 World Championship this year.
Team Yamaha’s Langston took results
of 1st and 3rd aboard a 2008
YZ450F to seal his third victory in a row in San Bernardino. He
had led by just eight points from Andrew Short entering a
thrilling climax to the AMA outdoor campaign but with his rival
only able to take fifth position overall he ended his first
season in the class and maiden year with the YZ450F sixteen
points the better over Mike Alessi and eighteen points over
Andrew Short.
“I felt like I had what it took to win but I don’t think in
motocross that it’s ever a done-deal or a set thing,” he
confessed. “Anything can happen. At one point I was still 30-odd
points out of the lead, so I thought, ‘Man, it’s still going to
be a tall order to just start beating all of these guys on a
regular basis every weekend.’ I’m really proud of the fact that
we were able to do that, and the 2008 YZ450F is really
outstanding. The motivation of the championship was enough to
give me that extra speed and everything I needed to come out and
win the last three rounds of the season.”
“I’ve always believed that it takes a successful crew to make a
successful team, and it takes a successful team to make a
successful rider,” he added. “I’ve always believed that you
should take care of the people who take care of you, and I’ve
had some people that have stuck by me through thick and thin.”
Grant Langston
The former 125cc world champion
(2000), AMA Lites number one
(2003) and Supercross East/West region winner did not drop out
of the top ten throughout his consistent trawl to the title. His
first podium on the YZ450F arrived in the sand of Southwick for
round three and he took his first chequered flag for Yamaha at
round eight in Washougal. He gained six podiums in total (a rate
of 50%) and three victories, owning four motos on the way.
It was yet another important victory
in the category for the YZ
four-stroke. A title that was triumphed for the first time with
Doug Henry with the original YZ400F in 1998; the very first
four-stroke to capture honours in the competition (then 250cc).
Race 1
results1. Grant Langston 36:48:59
2. Mike A Alessi 00:10:717
3. Andrew T Short 00:21:647
4. Timmy M Ferry 00:29:008
5. Kevin W Windham 00:35:729
Race 2 results
1. Kevin W Windham 37:36:04
2. Mike A Alessi 00:14:917
3. Grant Langston 00:22:831
4. Timmy M Ferry 00:33:055
5. Joshua R Hill 00:35:728
Championship standings1. Grant
Langston 439
2. Mike A Alessi 423
3. Andrew T Short 421
4. Timmy M Ferry 417
5. Kevin W Windham 363
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